One of the most painful problems in our society is not simply a lack of education. A much bigger problem begins when an educated, intelligent, and experienced person is willing to put aside knowledge and logic because of love for a political leader.
A person may be a doctor, professor, writer, engineer, or someone who has read hundreds of books. But when the discussion turns to a leader they deeply admire, sometimes the same person forgets the principles they have followed their whole life.
Why does this happen?
Because sometimes our emotional attachment to a person becomes so strong that we are no longer searching for the truth. We are trying to protect what we already believe.
Imagine a professor who always says:
“Every claim must be supported by evidence.”
But then something negative is presented about his favorite leader. Suddenly he says:
“It is a lie. His enemies created it.”
Ask him a simple question:
What evidence do you have that it is a lie?
He may have none.
This is where the problem begins.
He is no longer judging the information by the same standard. His feelings have become part of his judgment.
If the same accusation were made against a leader he disliked, he might say:
“We need to investigate.”
But when it is about his own leader, he says:
“It cannot be true.”
Truth does not change depending on who our friends and enemies are.
If something is wrong when our enemy does it, it must also be wrong when our hero does it.
A Leader Is Not Our Father or Mother
Sometimes we defend a political leader as if we are defending our own family or our own honor.
When someone criticizes the leader we admire, we feel as if they have personally insulted us.
But why?
A political leader is a human being.
A leader can do good things and also make serious mistakes.
A leader can love his country and still make terrible decisions.
A leader can be brave and still be wrong.
Accepting that a leader made mistakes is not an insult to that leader.
A Simple Example
Imagine a father who has two children.
One of them is accused of doing something wrong.
The father has two choices.
He can say:
“He is my son, so he must be innocent.”
Or he can say:
“I love my son, but first I want to know the truth.”
Which father is more fair?
Of course, the second one.
We should look at historical leaders in the same way.
We can respect them, but respect should never make us blind.
One of the Most Dangerous Sentences
One of the most dangerous sentences in discussions about history is:
“He could never have done something like that.”
Why not?
Because you love him?
Because you read books about him?
Because your family has good memories of him?
None of these things are historical evidence.
The right question is not:
“Can I believe that my favorite leader could have done this?”
The right question is:
“What does the evidence tell us?”
Education Does Not Always Protect Us From Bias
We sometimes believe that a highly educated person must also be an independent thinker.
Not always.
Education gives us tools to think, but it does not guarantee that we will always use those tools fairly.
A highly educated person can still become emotional, angry, defensive, or deeply attached to a belief.
Sometimes intelligence can even make the problem more complicated.
Why?
Because an intelligent person may use all of his knowledge not to discover the truth, but to find better arguments to defend what he already believes.
There is a very important difference between the two.
A person searching for truth asks:
“Could I be wrong?”
A person controlled by bias asks:
“How can I prove that I was right all along?”
Those two questions lead us in completely different directions.
History Should Not Become a Courtroom for Our Heroes
We should not turn history into a battlefield between supporters of different leaders.
The purpose of studying history should not be to prove that Amanullah Khan, Zahir Shah, Daoud Khan, Taraki, Karmal, Najibullah, Rabbani, Massoud, Karzai, Ghani, or any other leader was completely good or completely evil.
Human beings are more complicated than that.
We should ask:
What did they do?
What decisions did they make?
What were the results?
What helped the people?
What harmed the people?
And most importantly:
What can we learn from their mistakes?
When the Leader Becomes More Important Than the Truth
The greatest danger begins when someone says:
“I accept the truth, as long as it is not against my leader.”
At that point, truth is no longer the standard.
The leader has become the standard.
That is where the worship of personality begins.
A society that places its leaders above criticism will continue repeating the mistakes of the past.
But a society that can calmly and fairly question even its most beloved historical figures is becoming more mature.
A Question for All of Us
Suppose tomorrow strong and reliable evidence appears showing that my favorite leader made a serious mistake.
What would I do?
Would I examine the evidence?
Or would I immediately reject it because I do not like what it says?
This question is not only for the supporters of one leader.
It is for all of us.
I should ask myself this question.
You should ask yourself too.
Because bias does not only exist in other people. Sometimes it is hiding inside our own minds.
Heroes Leave, Truth Remains
Leaders come and go.
Governments fall.
Statues come down.
New books are written.
New documents are discovered.
But a nation grows when its people learn to value truth more than personalities.
Our children should not be forced to defend our heroes.
They should have the freedom to ask us:
“Why?”
Why was this decision made?
Why was this person killed?
Why was there a coup?
Why was the law broken?
Why were political opponents not tolerated?
Why did the country reach this point?
We should not be afraid of these questions.
The enemy of a nation is not the person who asks questions about its history.
The real danger to our future is being afraid to ask those questions.
Love your leader if you wish.
Respect what that leader accomplished.
Remember the good things that leader did.
But never hand your mind over to another human being.
Because the day we must sacrifice truth, logic, and knowledge to defend a leader, we are no longer defending that leader.
We are defending our own bias.
Perhaps one of the greatest forms of respect for history is having the courage to say:
“I will never place any leader above the truth.”
Noor Wodjouatt
